History[]
Childhood[]
Sharona was born in New Jersey.
In the season three episode "Mr. Monk and the Girl Who Cried Wolf," Sharona mentions to Dr. Kroger how her father, Douglas, owned a hardware store and died when Sharona was twelve, after a brief bout of dementia. This left her mother, Cheryl, to raise Sharona and her younger sister, Gail.
In the season two episode "Mr. Monk Goes to the Circus," Sharona mentions that when she was seven years old, she saw a girl fall into an elephant pen at a zoo. Though the girl escaped unharmed, Sharona was left with a crippling phobia of elephants.
Early Life[]
Sharona mentions in the season two episode "Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy" that she met her future husband, Trevor Howe, when she was still in her late teens (eighteen or nineteen) and living in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Their son Benjy was born shortly after. She and Trevor married, but their marriage was not a good one: Trevor was unfaithful, addicted to gambling and alcohol, and unable to keep an honest job. It is uncertain when Sharona ended their marriage.
Sharona worked in a variety of odd jobs to put herself through nursing school. When she was nineteen or twenty, and Benjy was only one year old, she was so desperate for money that she posed nude for a men's magazine while living in Atlantic City (she also may have taught ballroom dancing). Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck, after investigating Sharona's past, also implied that she did some unsavory things (this could mean sexual favors, stripping, etc) to pay her rent while living in Miami, Florida.
Assisting Monk[]
Sharona was working as a registered nurse in San Francisco when Adrian Monk's beloved wife, Trudy was murdered, causing Monk to lapse into a catatonic state for nearly three years. Captain Stottlemeyer hired her to take care of him, and she eventually nursed him back to a semi-normal mental state. Monk would later say of Sharona, "When she found me, I was drowning. She saved my life."
Since Monk was suspended from active duty, he began consulting on various cases with police departments around the Bay Area. Sharona assisted him during these investigations, helping to guide him around his various phobias and anxieties, and keeping him focused on his goals of solving the case and earning reinstatement to the SFPD. She also became a sort of business manager for Monk, negotiating his consulting fees and making sure to demand a contract from each of his clients.
Sharona sometimes conducted investigations herself, using her natural street smarts, and her sex appeal, to gain access to information that Monk sometimes could not. In the season 3 episode "Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month", Monk's former partner, Joe Christie, remarked that Sharona "had his back" in a way that a police detective's partner normally would. In fact, in the season 2 episode "Mr. Monk Goes to the Theater", Sharona is even emboldened enough to fib to her mother that she was actually Monk's partner, not his assistant.
Over a date, Sharona once confides her ambivalent feelings about her job: on the one hand, working for Monk was "the worst job" she'd ever had, because of the demands of dealing with such an impossible man; yet it was also the best job she'd ever had, because of the daily excitement, and the rush of helping bring criminals to justice. During this conversation, she whimsically compared herself to Lois Lane, Superman's plucky female cohort.
In 2004, Sharona reconciled with Trevor and remarried him, moving back to New Jersey with Benjy and quitting as Monk's assistant. Monk was lost without her for several months, until he met Natalie Teeger.
Return[]
Sharona returned to San Francisco in 2009, in the season eight episode "Mr. Monk and Sharona" when her Uncle Howard was killed after apparently falling down some stairs at a country club. She reunites with Monk, and informs him that she and Trevor had separated again, this time permanently, and Benjy is looking at colleges.
Initially friendly towards Natalie, Sharona becomes hostile when Monk notices suspicious signs that her uncle had actually been murdered (jeopardizing the substantial settlement being offered to her by the country club). She sees Natalie as exacerbating Monk's various phobias instead of trying to correct them, and even going so far as to accuse Natalie of manipulating Monk's opinion, out of jealousy that Monk "liked her better." Eventually, the two women reconcile and cooperate with Monk to apprehend Perry Walsh, Howard Fleming's killer. Sharona then "falls" down the same stairs her uncle had and (supposedly) breaks her arm, thus ensuring that she will have some money coming to her after all.
While back in San Francisco, Sharona also has a fond reunion with Stottlemeyer and Randy Disher. By the time of her departure back to New Jersey, Monk and Natalie are stunned to see Randy appearing to drive her to the airport, sharing a tender kiss with her before helping her into his car.
Non-Canon History[]
Although Sharona left the show midway through the third season, she returned in the novel Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants by Lee Goldberg.
It seems that a short time after Sharona's departure from San Francisco, Sharona, Trevor and Benjy moved to Los Angeles, where Trevor started a landscaping business. Then Trevor Howe gets arrested by mystery author Ian Ludlow for murdering Ellen Cole, one of his clients, supposedly during a failed burglary. Disgusted, Sharona moves back to San Francisco and runs into Monk and Natalie when they bring Julie into the hospital. Sharona plans to get her job with Monk back, but Natalie convinces Monk to reexamine the case, and Monk finds that Ian Ludlow was the real killer and Trevor was the fall guy. When this is proved, Sharona reconciles with Trevor and returns with him and Benjy to Los Angeles, giving both Monk and Natalie an affectionate goodbye. (Monk: "Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants")